Psychonauts 2 will include an invincibility toggle to make the game more accessible, and turning it on won’t disable achievements.
Developer Double Fine revealed Pyschonauts’ accessibility features back in May, but reiterated the news in response to a tweet from the official Xbox account. Xbox made a point that “beating the game on the lowest difficulty is still beating the game”. The developer of Psychonauts 2 seconded this opinion, saying that “if you beat Psychonauts 2 with the invincibility toggle on, you still beat Psychonauts 2”.
If you beat Psychonauts 2 with the invincibility toggle on, you still beat P2. https://t.co/OinBv1nuNr
— Double Fine (@DoubleFine) July 9, 2021
The studio embellished its standpoint by saying:
“All people should be able to enjoy games. All ages, all possible needs. It’s an ongoing and important process for our industry and a challenge we need to meet.
“End of the day? We want you to have fun, to laugh, to experience a story that affects you. On whatever terms you want.”
All people should be able to enjoy games. All ages, all possible needs. It’s an ongoing and important process for our industry and a challenge we need to met.
— Double Fine (@DoubleFine) July 9, 2021
End of the day? We want you to have fun, to laugh, to experience a story that affects you. On whatever terms you want.
“All people should be able to enjoy games”
In typical Double Fine fashion, the studio even partook in a little satirical teasing of those who like to act as a gatekeeper for video game difficulty..
“”uh, excuse me I beat Sword Guy Serious Time on a no hit hard mode and if I didn’t do that I don’t respect you. and like, can you even comment on things if you’re not diamond six rank in shooty mcBlam? I don’t think so,” the studio writes, mockingly. They follow it up with a sarcastic, “cool bud. you’re soooo cool!”.
The invincibility toggle won’t be the only accessibility feature included when Psychonauts 2 launches on 25th August this year. The studio confirms that the game will also have fully customisable controls. There will also be the option to customise how the platforming handles, with the option to turn off fall damage entirely.
We have alternative control and power selection options to address certain needs. They include the ability to adjust how certain aspects of platforming are handle including jumps and how Rez’s levitation ability is activated.
— Double Fine (@DoubleFine) July 13, 2021
We also have the ability to disable fall damage.
Accessibility is, thankfully, starting to become more of a focus point for newer games. The Last of Us: Part II won awards for its innovation in the accessibility space last year. It bucked the trend of locking trophies and achievements behind difficulty sliders.
Thankfully, Psychonauts 2 will also let players unlock all of the achievements while using accessibility features. The studio confirmed so in the replies to its original tweet.
Double Fine has released a full video guide that walks through the accessibility features available in Pyschonauts 2. Give it a watch below!
Will you be picking up Psychonauts 2 now that it’s more accessible than ever? Let us know across our social channels. Psychonauts 2 releases on 25th August, 2021 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
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Featured Image Credit: Double Fine